The Connecticut Huskies head to The Pavilion to match up with the Villanova Wildcats Monday. The Huskies need to rebound from a 79-64 loss to Marquette while the Wildcats dropped a 74-70OT decision to Notre Dame.

This hasn't been the finest hour for Connecticut basketball with the team mired in tenth place in the Big East at 6-8. With four games left in the regular season, the Huskies goal is to finish above .500 in the conference and perhaps move up a spot or two but most importantly is gaining momentum for the playoffs and hopefully make a strong run. The BIG Dance is not out of the question but UConn has to start winning now and consistency at both ends of the floor would be a good place to get the ball rolling. That didn't happen against Marquette with both teams hitting at around 45% but two areas heavily favored the Golden Eagles. Marquette dominated the perimeter, going 10 of 22 and nailed 21 of 26 from the charity stripe. Jeremy Lamb paced four DD scores with 19 points and seen rebounds, with Shabazz Napier posting eleven points and eight helpers while Ryan Boatright and Alex Oriakhi adding ten points each.

It's obvious Villanova is not the powerhouse squad of several years ago and with a tough four games to end the regular season, improving on their eleventh place position won't be easy. The Wildcats have been one dimensional team in that outscoring the opposition has been the key to their success although the record tells us that success has been on a limited basis. Nova has dropped back to back games and five out of six after squandering a 16 lead heading in to the locker room against Notre Dame. Both teams connected at 38% from the field but it was the Fighting Irish with their 12 of 31 performance that was one of the keys to victory with Villanova forcing 20 turnovers but only three double digit scorers compared to four for Notre Dame. JayVaughn Pinkston paced the Wildcats attack with 24 points with four long balls and five rebounds while Dominic Cheek followed with 19 points and six pulls and Maurice Sutton posted 12 points with ten rebounds.

I think the mental state of Villanova has to be a question after what transpired against Notre Dame and with Wayns and Bell banged up I think this is backing Connecticut or looking elsewhere and checking lineups...